That Last Confession
by Serenity's Ghost
Summary: The final battle between Azula and Zuko for the throne ensues, except this time they don't all walk away. A bit of Zuko/Katara. Warning: major character death.


**Idleness is so undoing, isn't it? So, instead of studying for my exam, I sat at my computer yesterday and wrote this. And I might I say I think it marvellous. It is a bit difficult to read because some of the paragraphs are uncharacteristically long, but Zuko's voice would not shut up in my head and he spoke and spoke and spoke like the lovely and regal prince that he is. So I present to you this entirely depressing but somewhat brilliant story, hewn out of my idleness and unwillingness to study and a wonderful, wonderful idea that shot me quite like lightning shoots a random tree in a park.**

**That Last Confession**

I saw when Azula's wicked eyes flashed from me to Katara who stood behind me and I threw myself in her path if only to spare her the pain, the anguish and the death that she didn't deserve. I had to save her; if it was the last thing I did, I had to save her.

I tried to redirect the bolt of lightning she had shot while on the fly, only to have the energy explode where it hit and send an explosive wave of pain wash through what felt like every nerve in my body. I thought death would come for me then.

"Zuko!" Katara cried out. My eyes wouldn't open. I couldn't see her. I could hear the shot of fire my sister unleashed beside me, making sure that she couldn't come to me. It was for the best. She could not come to me. Azula would kill her.

Eons ago, I was the man who wouldn't care if there were a few sacrifices in my fights, especially not the Water Tribe peasant who had impeded my quest for the Avatar so many times. Now, she was just important as the Avatar himself. When she'd shown me pure tenderness that I did not deserve when we were trapped together in Ba Sing Se, I could not help but feel as if there was something special about this girl. We had met so many times on different sides and now, without any concrete proof that I had turned over a new leaf and with merely my story that I'd lost my mother, she offered to heal this scar that I had once thought so atrocious, a scar that had marked me out as a failure and an outcast and exiled. When I had actually and earnestly turned over a new leaf and had found my path for my own self and knew why I was doing it, she held anger against me for betraying her in that moment when she offered me healing, her trust and a new chance when I did not deserve it.

I knew more now why when I'd joined them I'd concerned myself with trying to get her to stop hating me, to like me again even. Her opinion of me mattered and at that time I didn't know why. But I knew now. I knew since the moment I had helped her find the man who had killed her mother, went with her to seek vengeance and saw her stop, inches from taking the life he didn't deserve to still have, unable to do what he did to her mother to him, unable to either give him the serenity of death that he did not deserve or unable to be the monster and killer that he was. I knew from the moment she ran down the pier, having announced that she was ready to forgive me and threw herself into my arms, wrapping hers around me tightly to hold her newfound friend and ally close.

She was beautiful. It was something I noticed with my eyes the moment I'd been able to stop appraising her as the enemy and was able to see her as that compassionate girl in the caves in Ba Sing Se and later as the girl who mothered everyone around the fire before we all went off to war with what was once my nation and my family. I noticed only after we'd become allies that her beauty was not skin deep, it extended to the very reaches of her mind, her heart and her soul. She was something so absolutely good and it countered and seemed to soothe and repair everything that was so bad for so long within me. She seemed to erase that angry prince who once scoured the planet for the Avatar and made his life a perpetual and self-consuming vendetta against a boy who had done him no real wrong except in existing. But that hadn't been his fault. No, it was the fault of my ancestors.

It hadn't happened subtly, but it also hadn't happened boldly or suddenly enough for me to have isolated when it had happened for sure. I had fallen in love with the beauty of this girl who was so many places beneath me in rank and wealth, but so many higher in understanding, goodness and righteousness. It was different from the way I felt about Mai. That had been heated and then cooled. Her stoic nature had ground on my nerves so much and I always seemed to hurt her. Now that Katara and I were on the same side and very much fighting the same battle, I wasn't hurting her, but then again, that was something that could always change and they were two different types of hurt for sure. But there was this fire in my soul for her, one I couldn't deny, one that had made me work so hard to regain her trust and her approval, one that wished that when she had hugged me that that moment could have lasted for lifetimes and that I could have had the courage to tell her how important to me she was and kiss her waiting and most tempting lips. I just felt a deep attraction to her, my very soul felt it. I longed to sit by the fire with her alone and just listen to her talk because the very essence and substance of her was so fascinating and intriguing and marvellous. When it came to her, I was anything but lost for words. I had words to spare, ones I'd never before thought I would need but now they fit perfectly, like it had been the ultimate scheme of things for me to know them just to use them to describe her.

Every day after we had gone on that journey together, my affection towards her just grew and grew. It disturbed me a little, but it had also healed me so that I could accept it and not come to abhor it.

And I was willing to take that fatal strike of lightning to make sure that she was safe because if she could be afforded the chance to run away, to continue her radiant, shimmering life somewhere else, even if in the arms of another man, while I was tortured and murdered by a woman of my own flesh and blood, I knew it would be better and do the world better. Before, it would have been impossible for me to aggrandise her that much. Now, it seemed only appropriate.

As the pain wracked through me, I could only think, _Run, Katara, run for your life_, but the words could not be summoned by my lips to speak them. All my energy was being converted into pain to torture me further as I curled into a ball while the pain stabbed and ate at me. My sister gave a maniacal laugh that only spoke volumes of how unhinged she had become and I could hear her footsteps and that of my dear and beloved Katara as they engaged. _No! Get away from her! _I thought. It was futile just like I was, curled in this ball here on the floor. I loathed that I was not stronger, that I hadn't just shaken this off and gave the final blow to end my sister's reign of terror and keep Katara as safe as I wanted her. Part of me still shuddered at the thought of having to kill my own sister.

I forced myself to be calm for a moment, to cool the tumult of emotions and pain feasting on me and take three deep breaths. Damn it, it hurt to breathe but it calmed me considerably and I was able to muster enough strength to open my eyes. Azula was going at her mercilessly, typical Azula. But Katara was giving it her all, too. I wanted to smile. I wanted Katara to trap my sister in the biggest, thickest iceberg she'd ever made and be able to get up and kiss her once and for all like I so longed to do.

I missed most of the action, but Azula was chained by the hands to the grate at her feet, weeping, shouting and screaming at Katara who was coming towards me now. She turned me on my back and water covered the spot that had just been burnt by Azula's lightning just as her hands touched it. I could feel every frayed nerve being repaired and reconstituted and the discomfort was akin to that of having sand rubbed over a fresh, gaping wound. But after the discomfort, I felt well again and the pain ceased.

"Thank you, Katara," I said. The tears sprang to her eyes rather quickly and began to fall.

"I should be the one thanking you." She helped me to sit up and then get to my feet. What a brave and powerful warrior she was. I could feel myself falling more for her, but despite it all, I still wanted to keep her safe so she wouldn't have to handle any danger.

Azula began to scream again and rattled against the chains that kept her hostage to the grate at her feet. But then suddenly she became calm and stayed kneeling as she caught her breath. I pulled Katara into my arms.

"I was so worried that I would have been too late," she confessed into my shoulder. I held her tighter.

"You had to be protected no matter what. I couldn't just stand there and let her kill you. She's a sneaky, underhanded and dishonourable person for even attacking someone who had no hand in the Agni Kai. I'm just glad you're safe."

She extracted herself from my strong embrace and looked at me with a curious expression.

"Since when did I become so important to you?" It wasn't a rude question, it was just a surprised one.

"Hey, Water Tribe peasant!" Azula called. That seemed to grind Katara's gears. She turned to her, face instantly irate and she began to step towards the insane princess as if to set her straight.

It was the biggest mistake of her entire life.

Because that was what ended it all.

Azula took a deep breath and Katara immediately knew that Azula was about to attack. She reached for the water around her, forming spikes and threw them, and a mere three milliseconds later, a thin stream of blue, pointed fire came towards Katara so quickly that I had no time to either pull her away from it or take the blow for her. The fire went through her chest and Azula screamed out in pain, confirming that somehow, the spikes Katara had sent her way had impacted. Katara staggered with the force of the fire.

"No!" I shouted.

She began to fall backwards and I closed the space between us to catch her and guide her safely to the floor.

"Katara, stay with me! Don't give up! You can fight this! Just heal yourself!" I begged. She drew a shaky breath.

"Can't...lift...my arms," she barely got out. Her eyes were closing. I was losing her.

"Don't you dare die on me! I didn't even get to tell you how I felt yet!" I protested.

"Feel? How's...that?" she whispered.

"I love you," I confessed. "Always have, deep down. You're the strength I need to continue along the right path. So you can't die!" She gave a weak smile.

"Good. So I'm not the only one," she barely breathed. "Funny how things ended up this way, after I...was supposed to end up with Aang."

"Shh. Don't talk. Just...stay with me." I could feel myself crying now and I didn't give a damn. It was more than about me not wanting to hear anything about her and Aang. She had no strength to waste on talking.

"Don't cry, Fire Lord Zuko. You're the strength of this nation. You can't be so depressed over the death of a small...Water Tribe girl."

"Don't say that, you're not small! You're so important and not just to me." I looked around frantically, but there was no one to come to my help. Azula in her paranoid mania had banished everyone.

"Zuko, listen to me. I don't have much time left—"

"Don't say that—"

"Shut up and let me finish!" I fell silent; she had wasted the energy we both knew she didn't have. Zuko, I've always loved you for the man I knew you could be. You're so beautiful when you know who you are and when you're doing it for the right reasons. Tell my friends that I'm sorry that I couldn't witness the new world with them and that I'll always be there for them." She coughed and I squeezed her hand. "And, Zuko, never forget me."

She had already acknowledged her defeat, was already letting death take her into its clutches and there was nothing I could do about it. I nodded.

"I could never."

"Take my necklace. I want you to have it." I nodded. "And can I ask for just one thing?"

"Anything. I'll give you the world, Katara."

"Could you kiss me just this once?" It was a request that took nothing from me to give because it was something I had wanted for so long myself. I kissed her lips and she tried to kiss back but her strength was waning and within seconds, she was gone, no longer kissing me back.

I drew back, wanting to shake her shoulders but knowing it would be futile, I just continued to hold onto her hand and said a prayer to the spirits to watch over her. I was about to have a bitter fight with everyone else because I knew without them saying so that I was expected to have kept her safe and bring her back to them. I deserved everything the Avatar was about to dish out to me. I should have kept her safe. But I hadn't and now she lay before me, eyes closed and looking as peaceful as in sleep, untroubled and serene.

"Zuko!" It was the Avatar's voice, I knew it. I stood to meet him. "Boy, Katara sure is tired, isn't she?" he asked, voice wavering as the fear crept through at the possibility of her not being asleep.

"Aang. I'm sorry. I tried to save her." His brow crumpled in anger and frustration but then tears began to flow from his eyes. He knelt beside her, taking her hand and squeezing it rather tightly.

"Katara, no! You can't do this," he lamented to her. "We were supposed to work things out after the war! Please!" I knew that he knew that her breath had long gone and that he was merely lamenting to the empty shell of the girl he loved. He leaned and rested his head on her chest for a long moment when Sokka came running.

"Guys, it's finally over! It's finally—" He stopped in his tracks mid-run, noticing that the scene he was seeing was not one of victory or rejoicing.

His eyes widened when they noticed her chest was still.

"No," he murmured. He broke into a run again and pushed Aang away as he knelt down on the other side of his sister. "Katara, wake up. You're really scaring everybody." Sokka looked up at me, his eyes imploring for me to say it wasn't so but I just looked him straight in the eye and shook my head.

"No," he repeated. His eyes welled up and in a second he was the idol of anger. He got up and rushed at me with a fist aimed straight at my face. I didn't want to dodge it or parry it because I knew he of all people deserved consolation and I deserved the punishment he was trying to mete out. But I caught his fist as it flew towards me and applied heat in my palm to incapacitate him just a little so I could pull him into my embrace. I would cause him eternal suffering now more than ever.

"I'm so sorry, Sokka. I tried to save her but—"

"You didn't try enough!" he shouted in my ear, reducing to wordless screams of agony that shattered my ear. His screams reflected all the more how I felt deep inside. My tears flowed onto his shoulder as I continued to hold him close and hold him tightly, brothers now in the same pain and the same loss. We had both lost our sisters, but we were both mourning over Katara.

"I'm sorry," I reiterated. "I wish it could have been me."

"It should have been you!"

"It should have." He continued to sob there for a long moment when Suki and Toph came along.

"Oh, no," Suki said.

"What?" Toph asked, although we all knew that she could feel the mass just inches away from her feet.

"Toph. Katara's dead," Suki replied, immediately bursting into quiet tears. "Zuko." I looked her in the eye. "How did she die?"

"Like the true warrior she was. Her last shot killed Azula just as her blue flames hit her. She wanted me to tell you all that she's sorry she couldn't be there to witness the new world with you but that she'll always be with you." Toph sniffled.

"So she died like the Sugar Queen she was. Was she protecting you?" Toph said.

"No. Azula attacked her directly. It was dirty of her." Suki put her hand around Toph's shoulder. Sokka had quieted down but he was still clinging onto me in desperate grief. Aang stood and, tears in his eyes, also put his arms around Sokka. Suki brought Toph around Katara's form to embrace him as well. We had all won the battle but lost the war. In our grief, we were now closer together than we ever were.

After a long few moments, Sokka began to pull back from me and he stood on his own at last. He looked down at his sister's body, knelt and kissed her forehead.

"Goodbye, baby sister. Today you rest in paradise," he said. He stood and turned back to the rest of us. "We've got to find my dad. He needs to know." Aang nodded and they started walking away without me.

"Zuko?" Aang asked, stopping mid-stride and turning.

"I'll catch up," I told him. He nodded and they headed away. When they were just going out of the court, I knelt beside Katara and brushed the back of my hand against the softness of her warmly coloured cheek. I reached behind her neck and untied the necklace at her throat, clutching it in my hand as I stood.

I turned and looked at my sister some yards away. Her wound had not been cauterised like Katara's so she was lying in a pool of her own blood. I clutched the necklace in my hand just a little tighter.

No, Katara's sacrifice would not be in vain. I would take my place as Fire Lord and restore the nation to its former glory where the peace and unity would flourish rather than the rivulets of blood and pain. For her. I would do this now for her. Even in death, she was motivational. Just went to show how truly amazing she was. I would construct a great tribute in her name. She more than deserved it.

I turned and headed out of the court to meet with Hakoda. He deserved to know that his daughter died the most honourable death that anyone could have died. It would not take away the pain but at least he could be proud of her valour.

From then on, she would be in every drop of water around me, beautiful, powerful and majestic. And when I would look at the moon, I would see her face in its radiant light.

**Speak to me!**


End file.
